Ready Player One: did you like Art3mis?

trevoracious

I really, really enjoyed this book. It's basically a pornography of 80's pop culture for WoW veterans.

Anyway, I want to hear what you guys thought about Art3mis and her relationship to Parzival throughout the story.

liquiddark

It was a quick enough read, but looking back at it, the book didn't do much for me. Their relationship is a particularly odd one. So much of it reads like a stereotyped abstraction of a relationship between nerds. The truth is, in WoW (and most other online chat environments after a while) nerds cyber. Cyber isn't usually cute. It's sexy, it's a bit naughty, and it's a lot like flirting in any other medium. He really didn't hit that note.

He probably didn't want to go down that road because it would detract from the story, but when someone hauls you into a dark corner of e-space, the reason why is, often as not, adult in nature.

atma

The book was a snore-fest for me, but I'll bite.

The only thing of note was that somehow the notion that she was black and this was comment worthy, not only for the character in the sense it created its own moment of "awe" was a tearingly bad funny event for me. But moreover, that it was a trait repeatedly specified in the narration for no other reason than identifying colour kinda clicked the critique that the whole thing is self-consciously a fantasy, but boxed in a very small (for this reader) americo-male centric value...mall. Having her be his best buddy dude (am I remembering this story?) was also a telling "gay" but not overtly "gay" flirtation, without significance. Booooring.

Esh

The book started off decently, but then it just fell into the "all powerful hero" archetype that makes me lose all interest in a story. The pop culture references were interesting, but that was about it.

PayneTrayne

atma wrote: »

The book was a snore-fest for me, but I'll bite.

The only thing of note was that somehow the notion that she was black and this was comment worthy, not only for the character in the sense it created its own moment of "awe" was a tearingly bad funny event for me. But moreover, that it was a trait repeatedly specified in the narration for no other reason than identifying colour kinda clicked the critique that the whole thing is self-consciously a fantasy, but boxed in a very small (for this reader) americo-male centric value...mall. Having her be his best buddy dude (am I remembering this story?) was also a telling "gay" but not overtly "gay" flirtation, without significance. Booooring.

I believe you are thinking of Aech.

I like the story, and I liked Art3mis and Parzival at first. I found some of her reactions (particularly to the whole IOI folder) to be incredibly stupid. It seemed to me that the book got lost halfway through in telling a love story that not many people cared about. It seemed to me that they 'fell in love' because every hero needs a girlfriend. That being said, I enjoyed her character IMMENSELY during the final gate.

Spiffy McBang

I liked the book as you'd expect anyone unfortunate enough to grow up in or around the 80s to like the book. The characters had potential, but much of that went unrealized because the story itself was pared down to how the real world and OASIS functioned. Art3mis gets stuck in that. I think she was fine as compared to any of the other characters, but none of them were particularly good or bad. They were just there because someone had to be.

Frankly, even looking at all the characters I can only think of one thing I thought was particularly interesting and one thing I thought was particularly bad: Aech being a black lesbian and Shoto speaking in perfectly conversational English after starting out in that "proper samurai" mode. Everything about Art3mis (along with Parzival, Ogden, and Sorrento) was pretty much paint by numbers.

trevoracious

Spiffy McBang wrote: »

Everything about Art3mis (along with Parzival, Ogden, and Sorrento) was pretty much paint by numbers.

This is exactly what I thought, and I wanted to see if anyone agreed. Art3mis was devastatingly traditional. And when I say traditional, I mean, like, Petrarchan.

I'm sure this has everything to do with my personal baggage, but I have no taste for the belle dame lust story anymore. I hated, hated it when Art3mis threw down the magic wall in the first gate to block Parzival's exit and he turned around and helped her. I thought she was hot but so clearly not worth Parzival's time, let alone his worship. If she would have been more humanized in Parzival's eyes, maybe more of a competitor instead of an idol, I think I would have gone for it.

But shit. The cold, beautiful woman trope has stood the test of time. There has got to be some reason people buy this stuff.

Btw, I totally loved this book. Art3mis wouldn't have bothered me so much if the story weren't so fun.